Wonderful, Terrible Hinting
by Cartel
Summary: "All this? The beauty of nature? It would be nothing compared to a girl who wore blue lipstick. She'd be stunning, an enigma. It seems silly, but..." And it did seem silly. Scorpius lies about what he looks for in a girl and fluff ensues. Not terribly deep fluff, but attempts to be at least an interesting read. Short-ish one shot, T for mild language. Thanks C:


**Disclaimer:** Harry Potter is the property of J.K. Rowling. I am in no way affiliated with her. This is not a profitable work. No copyright infringement is intended. Thank you :)

**Prompt:** "_Lipstick message_."

**Wonderful, Terrible Hinting**

"I swear, mate, I'm like... utterly infatuated with Rose Weasley."

"That's disgusting."

"Isn't! She's fit as all hell, mate-tall, ginger, pretty face. Smart, too, smarter 'an anyone, yeah?"

It disgusted Scorpius that his best mate, Cospin, was saying all this. It could be said that part of this disgust was that Scorpius agreed with all Cospin had said, but any remorse Scorpius might have felt for his own sentiments had long since expired. Of course, Cospin couldn't know that Scorpius had liked this girl from first year-no one knew-but all the same, Scorpius hated him for it.

_Mine,_ he wanted to say. _She's mine. Back off._ But he couldn't. She wasn't his, and she probably never would be. Cospin might actually have a chance with her, even. But not Scorpius, never Scorpius.

It was not his own fault. She was perfectly friendly to his mates, hell, she got along with nearly everyone. She talked often and easily, but no one really minded since she usually said something either hysterical, helpful, or brilliant, and when she didn't you could forgive her because it was rare as anything. With Scorpius, though, it was different. She got all quiet around him, treaded lightly, wouldn't really give her opinion. She avoided eye-contact, her voice was breathy, childish, her hands would fidget and she never sat still or stayed too long. He couldn't understand what he'd done to make her so nervous, so afraid of him. Currently his goal was to un-scare her. Dating her was beyond the realms of even his least realistic of dreams.

"...By staring out that window, are you agreeing with me, Scorps?" _Yes_.

"No," he snapped quickly.

"Well, come on then, what do you look for in a girl?" Cospin asked this question with an amount of confidence that made it seem almost rhetorical. Had he not also held Scorpius's gaze for a good three seconds, Cospin would not have had his answer. Perhaps if Scorpius had not been weighing his friend's intent for those three seconds, he might have spent them realizing that the patch of grass they were sitting on did not prevent passersby from hearing them.

"I..." Scorpius knew he had to come up with something fast of Cospin would assume he was gay. (Scorpius had nothing against homosexuals but did not seek to pose as one.) "I look for a girl," he paused again, trying to make it seem like his earlier hesitation had been a bit of theatrics. "I look for a girl..." repetition was the greatest form of stalling. "A girl with blue lipstick."

Cospin laughed, the absurdity of the statement catching him off-guard. "Blue lipstick?"

"Yeah," Scorpius nodded solumnly. Inwardly, he kicked himself for coming up with such a stupid reply, but he knew he'd have to stick with it now. He took a deep breath and looked out at the lake in the distance, gesturing grandly with one hand. "All this? The beauty of nature? It would be nothing compared to a girl who wore blue lipstick. She'd be stunning, an enigma. It seems silly, but..." and it did seem silly, Scorpius wanted to add, "...but I had a dream once, when I was very young, of a beautiful girl-"

"A ginger one?" Cospin interrupted, smiling crookedly.

"Yes," Scorpius replied, eyes still on the distance. "Yes, it was a ginger girl. And when I woke up, I knew that if I ever fell in love, it would be with a beautiful ginger girl who wore blue lipstick." He heard an effeminate giggle and turned back to Cospin, who was smirking at him.

"You're mental, you know."

Scorpius shrugged. "We all are, when it comes to somethings. Blue lipstick, ginger hair. Not my fault."

**-o-**

"Merlin's eyepatch, what _has_ she got on?" Kelsie Clearwater stage-whispered as one of the Ravenclaws entered the Potions dungeon.

"Looks _ridiculous_," Merriweather Hapskirk replied, a little more softly. "I mean, wow, I almost feel _bad_ for her. Do you think someone jinxed it? Do you think she's _seen_?"

Alda Zabini leaned in from the desk behind them. Both Merriweather and Kelsie leaned back, knowing Alda always had the best to say in everything. "She has seen. She picked it out, the lipstick. Olive saw her trying them on in Hogsmeade this past weekend, she told me at breakfast. Never thought she'd buy any, of course, just looked like she was having a bit of fun."

Feeling guilty for her earlier remarks, Merriweather searched for something pleasant to say. "Well," she stumbled. "Well... well, it does match her eyes, that blue."

"Matches, doesn't flatter," Alda corrected with a smirk before leaning back to her own desk once more. None of them noticed the breath suddenly catching in the blond boy two desks over.

**-o-**

"E-excuse me, Rose?" She turned around, trying not to look rigid. Posture, she reminded herself. Keep posture.

"Oh, Scorpius. Hi." She tried to hard to sound surprised, so very hard. He seemed convinced, too. Perhaps it was the way her heart was beating as if she'd been startled.

"You... I was wondering, about your lipstick. Did-did someone lend it to you?"

She felt her heart fall, but tried to hide it. "Why, is it yours, Scorpius?" It was meant to sound sarcastic, but came too close to coy. She could've sworn she saw him blink quickly, as if his eyelashes were stuttering, too.

"No, it's just... I... I'd said something before, to someone. Last week. About-about blue lipstick. I hadn't thought anyone'd heard."

"Oh." How easily her hopes picked up again, it almost angered her. Stop being silly, Rose, stop being a silly girl.

"Did-did you hear, then?"

"Uh, yes. I didn't mean to, just was passing by." Laughed a bit, too, but I guess you didn't hear.

"Ah, well-well, Rose, it's-it's only fair if I tell you, I was just kidding. I... It wasn't true, not really."

"Oh," she said again. This time she felt a smile tugging at her cheeks, but tears stung at the bottoms of her eyes. It was strange how she always smiled when she was crying. Swallowing, she turned to walk away. Humiliating, mortifying, how could she even think for a minute that Scorpius Malfoy would ever-

And then he caught her hand and stopped her. Sort of. He was gentle, his hand wrapped round her wrist, but it was enough to startle her, make her pause. It was of her own accord that she turned to face him then, the first tear trailing down her cheek, making its way towards her turquoise lips.

"Rose, I... Don't-don't cry, please? I don't want-I never want you to cry, to be sad. That is..." He ran his free hand through the back of his hair, almost colourless it was so blond. "I was lying, yeah, but only sort of. There was never any blue lipstick, not until now. But I did-I did dream about a ginger girl, actually. Or, daydream, I guess it was. I wasn't so young, prolly... I guess I just turned eleven. Only, it wasn't some random girl who just-who just had red hair and freckles.

"It was you, Rose. It's-it's always been you." He let her hand fall, but she didn't run. Instead she drew both hands up to her hips, studying him.

"Why haven't you said anything? You never... You never said." Her voice was soft, and he couldn't tell if he'd hurt her or if it was just a side-effect of crying.

He let out one empty laugh. "I thought you hated me. I mean, you-you get on with everyone, but you never really talk much around me. Even if I'm just in the same room, as soon as you notice me you get quiet. I figured I was just that lucky, you know? Just the one person Rose Weasley hated."

Now it was her turn to laugh. Some of her quickness returned to her. "On the contrary, Scorpius Malfoy, for almost six years now you've been the one person Rose Weasely _could never_ hate. And she did try, for maybe a day or two, before you won her over."

"But-what-you, too? You felt..." he was a cross between exasperated and overjoyed. "But you never said either, then? Never gave any hint at all?"

She shook her head. "All I've ever given you is hints, Scorpius. I thought you didn't like me that way, thought I was creepy or gross. How was I supposed to know you were just too thick to tell?"

Scorpius looked hurt. "Thick? It's not like your hints are obvious, you know."

She tilted her head to the side, looking almost sympathetic. "Scorpius, I'm wearing _blue lipstick_. Honestly."

**-o-**

When Scorpius returned to his dorm that night, his lips had blue lipstick smudged across them. His eyes met his best friends and he opened his mouth, desperate to offer some sort of apology of excuse, but he was cut off.

"No, no, before you can say anything, it's cool, mate. Really. You had some dream when you were like seven, it's chill, mate, you get dibs, I'm happy for you. Besides, I've been thinking lately. Blondes, you know? Merriweather Hapskirk is pretty cute."

Scorpius sat down on his bed and ran a hand through his hair. "Yeah," he agreed, "There is something _undeniably_ attractive about blond-haired persons. Poor souls can't help themselves." _Especially the ginger ones,_ he added silently, smug butterflies still making home in his stomache.

**-x-**


End file.
